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The Ashburn Avalanche A New Beginning Just about a year ago I was sadly saying farewell to the Leesburg Vipers--a boys team I had coached for ten consecutive years and twenty consecutive seasons. Many of those same boys had been with me on numerous LYSA all star teams that I coached. I grew to love them like my sons and to treat them like my friends. But, their time in youth soccer had come to an end, and they were off to college.  When that last season ended I knew that I would not coach for at least a little while. The Viper era had been so special that I simply could not think about filling--or trying to fill--the void.Of course, I realize now that there is no void to fill. That space in my heart is permanently leased to Chris, and Weeksy, and Tim, and Travis, and Trey, and Tony, and all of the others. The question is: is their room for more? I have an answer to that question. Those of you who know me understand that I ALWAYS end practice with a scrimmage. I don't claim ownership of that philosophy; it's an aspect of practice planning that is reinforced through US Soccer clinics and coaching training. Always, always, always end practice with a game simulation that reinforces the techniques and skills that have been the focus of the day. Now, the part of the approach that I will claim is this: we always end practice with a scrimmage UNLESS a player asks me if we are going to end practice with a scrimmage. That rule exists to try to encourage players to remain focused on skill development at least for 45 minutes before we get to the "fun" part. Frankly, I usually relent--after violation of the rule--because I think it's so important just to play soccer at every practice. But the point is still worth reiterating and I make it with a little bit of a sly expression on my face. So, at the very first practice of my new team, the Ashburn Avalanche (U10 Girls), Miss Holly Jackson sweetly asked if we could scrimmage the other team on the field that day. I quickly gathered up the girls and pronounced rule #1: "if you ask me about a scrimmage it probably won't happen." Now, here's the part where the room in my heart opened up. After thinking for a few moments about what I had just said, Holly slowly but assuredly raised her hand to speak. "Since I didn't know the rule," she said, "could we scrimmage that team today?" I don't know if I was able to keep the smile off my face, and I certainly felt a special kind of happiness inside. That's just the kind of question I used to get from the Vipers when they were about the same age. Sport is about a lot of things. It's about winning and losing, it's about skill and determination, it's about ups and downs, it's about trying as hard as you can all of the time. But mostly, well, it's about people. And that's what I love about coaching: the chance to be around special people large (Vipers) and small (Avalanche). Welcome Ashley, Caris, Dana, Hannah, Nicole, Sarah, Shelby, Tyla, and, of course, Holly to our new beginning. I like the Avalanche (a lot) already. Maybe we'll scrimmage that other team some time soon... Play on. |
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